Exegesis hina mēpote … pantes hoi theōrountes arxōntai autō empaizein ‘lest surely … all the onlookers began to make fun of him’, syntactically a final clause in the subjunctive, dependent upon v. 28, describing what would happen if the answer to the question of v. 28 were not in the negative. hina mēpote is somewhat stronger than hina mē, cp. A-G s.v. mēpote 2 b a and on 12:58. For theōreō cp. on 10:18. empaizō with dative ‘to mock’, ‘to ridicule’, ‘to make fun of’. thentos